Rubber heel



R. I. HILL. RUBBER HEEL. APPLICATION FILED IAN. 3|. 1918.

1,331,199'. Patented Feb. 17,1920.

F 3 7 32g ,27 y 27 li' l \4 IIIAIII-Hm H' zzv I 7d 23 Inv ufo?? UNITED sTATEs PATENT oEEioE.

RAYMOND I. HILL, OF ELYRIA, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO THE HILL RUBBER HEEL COMPANY,

OF ELYRIA, OHIO, A CORPORATION OF OHIO.

RUBBER HEEL.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 17, 1920.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, RAYM'OND I. HILL, a

lcitizen of the United States, residing at Elyria, in the county of Lorain and State of Ohio, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Rubber Heels, of which the following is a full, clear, and eXa-ct description.

This invention relates to lrubber heels, Jthat is to say, heels formed of rubber or rubber composition, designed to be attached to -the heels of shoes, and this application covers certain improvements over the construction constituting the subject matter of my prior application, Serial N o. 193,235, filed Septem'ber 26, 1917,and is a continuation and substantial divisionof my prior application, Serial N o. 203,987, filed The principal objects of this invention are to increase the resiliency of the rubber heel, andto so construct the latter that when applied to the heel of the shoe it will cling to the latter around the marginal. edge thereof so as t0prevent the. entrance .of dirt and other foreign particles and eliminate the necessity of cement to form 'a tight joint.

These and other objects are attained by Y d the present invention which may be briefly summarized as consisting in certain novel details of construction which Will be described in the specication and lset forth iii the appended claims.

In the accompanying sheet of drawings, Fi ure l is a plan viewI ofa rubber heel em odying my invention, showing the attaching face; Fig. 2 is a similar view showing the tread face; Fig. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view substantially on the lineS-S f of Fig. 1; Fig. 4 is a transverse sectional View substantially along the line '4f-1 of .F ig. 1; Fig. 5 is a transverse sectional view .through the rubber heel showing-the same attached to the heel of a shoe, the section being taken substantially along the line 5-5 of Fig. `l; Fig. 6 is asectional View. substantially along the line 6-6 of Fig. 2; Fig. 7 is an edge view of tlierrubber heel looking toward the side of `the same; and. Fig. 8 is an edge view looking toward the breast of the heel. I

rlihe rubber heel embodying my invention consists of a body 10 of rubber, or rubber composition, of customary shape, and provided with an attaching face 1l and a tread.

November 26, 1917.

face 12. The rubber lieel is adapted to be secured t0 the heel of a shoe by a plurality of attaching devices 13, nails or screws, usually nails, the heel being provided with openings 1l to accommodate the attaching devices, and at the base of these openings there are preferably provided washers 13a forthe heads of the attching devices. Y

Preferably the tread face l2 is normally flat (the word normally applies to the rubber heel `before being attached to the heel of the shoe) and preferabl i the attaching face 11 is concave, the concavity extending inwardly froml all marginal edges. Additionally on the attaching face there is a concavity 15, that is to say, a depression whose base dips or has a more pronounced and steeper concave curvature than the surrounding portion of the attaching face. Extending upwardly from the base of this concavity l5 are `yieldable cushion members consisting preferably of webbing formed by intersecting ribs 1G which may, and preferably do. extend diagonally at iight angles to each other, forming rectangular cells. Preferably the outer edges of these webs form a convex surface which curves down in all directions from the central point'to the marginal or surrounding concave portion of the attaching face of the body 10.

This construction therefore provides on the concave attaching face a convex protuberance consisting of yieldable members in the forni of intersecting ribs or webs 17, and these form at the central part of the rubber heel, air cells in which the air is trapped when the heel is in use, and bein vieldable, form a cushion which yields when the heel engages the pavement or floor and the weight of the wearer is applied to the heel.

This cellular piotubei'ance of intersecting webs not only causes a cushion effect, but it very niatcrially assists in causing the margina] portion of the rubber heel'to hug or tightly cling to the corresponding portion ofY t-lie shoe heel. lVhen the rubber heel is `applied to the liecl of the shoe, by driving in the attaching devices which are located about the edge or perimeter of the cellular shoe. This causes the Arubber heel to cling to the heel of the shoe all about they margin.

of the former, preventing effectively the entrance of. dirt and thel like between the shoe heel` and the attached rubber heel, and as before stated, renders the use of cement unnecessary. i

I find that the action of the cellular protuberance in causing the marginal Iportion of the rubber heel to cling to the heel of the shoe is somewhat enhanced by increasing with a slight kor gentle curvature the thickness of the rubber heel at the point or rear4 end indicated at 20 in Fig. 7 and also at the points or corners ofl the breast of the heel as' indicated at 21'in Fig. 8. I do not f regard this fittture, however, as essential,

and if desired, he marginalportion of the rubber heel may be made of uniform thickness all the way around.

At the rear quarter of the rubber heel I prefer to provide cork plugs 23, which are exposed on thetread face of the heel and ent gage the surface overgvhich the wearer is walking when the wearer lowers his foot on the surface in the act 'of taking a forward step, these cork plugs being particularly useful in reducing the danger of slipping on a wet'surface'. It will be apparent, however,

that these cork plugs are\not essential to the main features of the invention, and can,

fif desired, be omitted from the construction.

It was before stated that the cellular protuberance on the att-aching facdpf the rubber heel causes a projection or protuberance 18 on the tread face of the rubber heel when the latter is applied to the heel of theshoe.

When the wearer is walking 'and places his weight on the heel, this outer protuberance 18 iattens out, the webbing on the attaching face of the heel yielding to permit this, and thus the cushion effect previously referred to is obtained. Of course, the cushion effect is enhanced to some extent by the air trapped in the cells, for the escape of4 thc air when the cellular structure is compressed by the weight of the wearer, is somewhat. retarded by the close adherence of the rubber heel to the heel of the shoe.

This advantage in the way of a cushion effect, together with the utilit;7 of the cellular protuberance in causing /the marginal portion of the rubber heel to' tightly cling to the shoe heel render the present improvements extremely important and result in the heel having distinct advantages over other in contact with the heel of the.

rubber heels which are being sojld and used at the present time.

The word heel 1s used herein in a broad concavity and composedof interconnected walls.

2. A rubber heel having on its attaching l Aface a dished marginal portion and inside the `,latter a concavity; and a cellulary protuberance projecting upwardly fromthe l base of the concavity above the adjacent surroundingmarginal portion and composed 0f interconnected walls.

3. A rubber heel having on its attaching face a marginal portion ada ted to be' pressed against a shoe heel, an inside the' latter having a protuberance formed by in-A tersecting webbing substantially normal to the tread face of the heel.

44. A'rubber heel having on its attaching face a marginal surface adapted to be pressed against a shoe heel and inside the latter having a"""-protuberance projecting above theadjacent marginal surface, the

protuberance having a convex surface taperlng down to and lntersecting sald marginal surface.

5.` A rubber heel having on its attaching face a marginal portion and inside the latter a yieldable cellular protuberance, the protuberance having a convex surface taperingdown to the marginal portion, and said heel having openings for attaching devices located so that the latter will extend through the attaching face of the heel adjacent the margin of the 'protuberance 6. A rubber heel having on its attaching face a dished marginal portion designed to be pressed against a shoe heel, and having insideftlie marginal portion a protuberance projecting above the adjacent marginal portion andconforming in outline substantially to the outline of the heel.

7. A rubber heel having on its attaching facea marginal portion designed to be pressed against a shoe heel, and having inside the marginal portion a cellular pro' tuberance projecting above the adjacent marginal portion and conforming in outline substantially to the outline of the heel.

8. A rubber heel provided on its attaching face with a substantially centrally disposed cellular protuberance surrounded by a dished portion forming between the center of the protuberance and the margin of the heel a concavity adapted to be flattened when the. heel is applied to a shoe heel.

9. A rubber heel having onvits attaching face a marginal portion and inside the lati ter a pi'otubeiance formed by intersecting located so that the latter Will extend through webbing substantially normal to the ti'ead the attaching face adjacent the margin of face ot the heel, said protnberance proJectthe protuberance.

l0 ing upwardly above the adjacent marginal In testimony whereof I hereunto atHX my portion and conforming in outline substansignature.

tially tothe outline of the heel, and said heelv having openings for attaching devices Y RAYMOND I. HILL. 

